Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-02-21
SIRGE OF THE ALAMO
Recellecsioms 81 IN Eyewitness
Of That Massacre.

part in one of the great struggles OF tn
century, the history Of which 70 TOD
little known to Americans Of the younzei
generation. but which furnished exam
smpIes of endurance and hero,sm tina
apv land might claim with PRIDE Ii
the struggle for Texan Independents
none bore . Drawer part than Colonel Z
L. Crompton. of Roxbury, Msssaehu
sestt A GLOBE Democrat reporter hear
ing of Colonel Crompton's presence IN
the city, sought him out, and by the ex
penditure of much persuasive eloq1enc~,
experiences during the War of IndeEen'
dencs.
I'm the winter of 1884" Colonel
Crompton began, 81 left my home in
Massachusetts, for the purpose of seek
ing my fortune in the West. My des-
tinatlon was Lexington, Kentucky, bat
while on the Ohio river fell in with q
nerty Of young men who were on their
way to Join Colonel Travis in Texas, and,
carried away by their vivid pictures of
the life of adventurous excitement that
awaited them in that country, joined
their band, without much knowledge as
to the right or wrong of the cause which
1 pledged myself to sustain. We
travelled by boat to New Or
leans. and there took ship for Gal
weston. Here we procured horses, and
proceeded to Join the Texan forces, then
operating in the neighborhood of San
Antonio de Bexar. Anything less like
to imagine. Uniform there WAS nome.
each dressing to suit his own peculiar
fancy, and the men were as various as
their attire. A very large percentage
had left the States because they had
met with an aecident'-the Texan
euphonism for having committed some
crime-but the greater number were
young fellows VINO, like myself. had
been led into the war by lore OF change
and excitement. So large q proportion
of very young men has seldom been
found in any military force.
''Shortly after my arrival / attached
myself to the command of that msgnifi-
cent Tennesseean, Colonel Milan, and
soon became devotedly attached to him
He was q man OF splendid character.
without the sternness of Travis, or the
strong favor of blackguardism that
hung about Houston. The latter /
knew well, but never liked, although /
could not help recognizing his strong
qualities. But Milan won all hearts,
and many of US thought he was the
proper leader for the army.
cas- soon Q we had gathered sufficient
strength we attacked the Mexican
forces in San Antonio. They far out
numbered US, and q desperate struggle
ensued. For days we fought in Tne
streets and among the abode houses.
each OF which was q miniature fortress.
With picks and spades We dug our way
through the walls from house to house,
thus avoiding the great loss which
would have resulted from any attempt
from direct storm The fight for tine
Vereminda House was fierce and
bloody, but at last we drove tine
Mexicans out and took posses
sion. But our triumph wss soon
turnej to mourning, for shortly after it
was captured the beloved M1an fell
dead. snot by a Mexican vino lay COM
cealed behind a wall on the opposite |
side of the San Antonio river. We at
length obtained possession OF the town,
but did not retain it long, as the a3 |
Ndnct vi TtSAucub odula kdtlh u
US to withdraw. leaving Travis with less
than $50 men to garrison the town /
shall never forget the day when young
Maverick rode into cur camp with nsws
that Travis, refusing to retreat. was
shut up in the Alamo and surrounded
by an overw heiming force
81 do not know what Madness pos
sess me, but when heard that H9us-
ton had decided that be was too weak to
march to the relief of Travis tGs was
indeed the case), determined to galEop
to San Antonio, endeavor to steal
through the Mexican lines and Join my
old Kentucky friends, vino were nearly
all within the garrison walls reached
San Antonio without difficulty, aud
found that one assault had already been
made, and that the besieged had more
than held her own. So far all was wsll,
butAn endeavoripg to creep between the |
Mexican pickets / was fired upon and
death to the darkness. With difficulty
/ made my way to the house of al
Mexican whom / had befrieEded during |
our occupation Of the city. and he gem
erously agreed to conceal me In his l
house. A narrow window commanded
an excellent view of one 'front.' of the
Alamo wall, and from this point could |
see nearly all of that memorable strug-
gle. Day after day the Mexican ire II
was kept up, and time after time were
their storming columns hurled against
the old church wall which formed the
Texan rampant. But nothing could dis
turb the calm desperation of the defend
ers, and at the close Of each day the |
Lone Star flag fosted rs proudly,
and, apparently, as securely as ever
from the roof of the miasson- The
Mexican losses were fearful Their |
clumsy escopetas were no match fer
the long Hawkins rifles in the hands OF |
men. Hundreds fell every day, but |
their loss was little felt In that over |
whelming host, while every man of the
garrison who died was an irrsparabls |
injury. The line along the wall grew
very thin, but still there was mo-
thought of surrender amidst that gall |
liant band. At length when death and |
wounds had reduced the poor handful |
to half it's original numbers, the Msxi- |
cans Effected . lodgment in an unds- |
Tended portion of the wall and poured
in by hundreds.
Although there was no hope of sue
cess, the brave Texans fought a. steadi- |
ly and firmly as On the first day OF the
siege. From room TO room went the /
tignt, and the puny Mexicans learned by
bitter experience what deadly weapons
and clubbed rifles were I'm /
the hands of desperate Americans But
human endurance has it's limits. and at
last Santa Ana was the master OF
Alamo, but not until the last American |
lay cold in death. From my window
could hear the shouts and yells and SEQ
the struggling figures When all was
over begged my host to go into the
Alamo aad bring me news OF all
that had occurred. He came back |
in an hour or two and said |
that such q shambles had never |
hoo,. soou The daaA -n-u baou.-,f nm Il